Alabama Baseball Cruises Past Grambling, 12-2, in Eight Innings

The Crimson Tide used a pair of grand slams and 14 combined hits to take down Grambling, 12-2, on Wednesday evening at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With the win, Alabama improves to 19-29 overall on the season and closes out its 2017 non-conference schedule with a 14-10 record.

"I'm so happy our guys came out tonight, had a great approach and got off to a good start," said Alabama head coach Greg Goff. "We got a chance to get everybody in there tonight, so it was an awesome team victory."

Alabama’s offense collected 14 total hits with 12 of the 13 Tide batters reaching base safely against Grambling. Eight of the nine UA starters recorded at least one hit, with the output highlighted by grand slams from Hunter Alexander and John Trousdale. Alexander finished 1-for-3 with the homer, two runs, a pair of walks and a season-high four RBI. Trousdale’s grand slam walked it off for the Crimson Tide for the run-rule win, as the freshman finished 1-for-2 with four RBI and a run scored.

Deacon Medders (2-0) collected his second win of the season, throwing a season-long 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball. Medders allowed only three hits and issued two walks while striking out four across his career-high 97 pitches of work.

"(Deacon Medders) has come a long way," Goff added of his freshman right-hander. "As you guys know, after playing 33 innings this weekend, our pitching staff was depleted. For Deacon to go out tonight and throw six shutout innings; his effort gave us a chance. I was really concerned going into this game because Grambling has a good offense, but I was happy how Deacon came out and had great command tonight to help get us this win."

Alabama jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the first. Chandler Avant began the game with a leadoff triple before coming across to score in the next at-bat on a single from Kyle Kaufman. Cobie Vance followed with a double to left to place two in scoring position for the Tide with a balk crossing the second run of the inning. Alex Webb brought in the Tide’s third run with an RBI-single to give Alabama a 3-0 lead after the first.

The Tide widened its lead thanks to a five-run, five-hit second inning. Logan Carey began the scoring sequence with a single up the middle. One batter later, Avant collected his second hit of the day with a double to left before a Vance walk loaded the bases. With men on every bag, a passed ball scored Carey from third for UA’s first run. Chandler Taylor then drew a walk to load the bases once again before Alexander sent one over the fence in left for a grand slam to push the Alabama advantage to 8-0.

Both teams went scoreless for the next four frames until Grambling broke the drought with a pair of runs across the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, a leadoff single followed by a fielder’s choice placed a runner in scoring position for the Tigers. After a wild pitch allowed the man to advance to third, an RBI-single scored GSU’s first run, making it an 8-1 contest heading into the stretch. In the eighth, the Tigers collected a leadoff single and then a double to add one more and make it an 8-2 game heading to the home half.

The Tide responded in the bottom of the eighth, striking for four to seal the 10-run victory. Zack Coker drew a leadoff walk to start the inning before Connor Wright lined a single through the right side to put two on. In the next at-bat, Alexander worked a full count before drawing a walk to load them. One out later, Trousdale cleared the bases with his first career roundtripper to deep right to walk it off for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama will close out its regular-season home schedule with a three-game series against the seventh-ranked Florida Gators from Friday through Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. First pitch of games one and two is set for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+ with the series finale airing nationally on SEC Network for a 3 p.m. CT start.